In order to protect plants from pathogens that threaten crops and food security, farmers use chemical pesticides that pose potential risks to human health and the environment. New crop protection strategies consist of the external application of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to trigger plant defense through RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms. To allow the implementation of this technology on a large scale, researchers of the team of Manfred Heinlein and of the University of Helsinki in Finland have developed a highly efficient and accurate dsRNA synthesis system in bacteria and demonstrated the effect of dsRNA produced in this system in antiviral plant protection. This study was published on February 26, 2018 in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.
Yale Environment 360 online magazine
